No Es Oro Todo Lo Que Brilla

Pero los pajaeros siepre brillan, especialamente los quetzales. El macho crestado, la mujer, y juntos. El macho quetzal dorado. Tambien hay los trogones, la mujer: y el macho. Tambien muy brillante pero tambien timido son los tucanes.

Ecuador Hummingbirds

It is often cloudy and rainy in the Cloud Forest. As a result getting direct light with high shutter speeds becomes almost impossible to eliminate blur. That being said, there were great hummers at any of the places with feeders that I went. At 2000+ meters you find the violet tailed sylph which is one of the longest hummingbirds in Ecuador, and one of the smallest with the purple throated woodstar. One of my favorites is the Empress Brilliant. Due to the prevalence of feeders, the hummers become agitated if the bottles go empty too long. Its not uncommon for them to land on you while "demanding" breakfast. One of the most daring is the buff-tailed coronet. I had more than a few land on my head while up early with the sun. Once deployed, every hummingbird in the nabe comes in for a drink. Meanwhile at 1800m at the feeders in El Mirador, you get the tiny green-thorntail in the woodstar's niche. 4 Down at 1500meter, in Mindo proper the fabulous Andean Emerald. Also at the Mariposario was the fantastic White-whiskered Hermit.

Ecuador Redux

Had a nice opportunity to revisit Ecuador and peel back some of the layers of this country. I spent the majority of my time between Nanegalito and Los Bancos with Mindo Mariposarios being a favored stop. It was a special and needed break from the insanity that sees to be breaking out on daily basis back in the States. In Ecuador I am reminded that birds have lived on this planet for millions of years and survived earthquakes, volcanism, meteor strikes and a few wars. So somehow if I can find them, I too can navigate the cataclysm du jour. So here's what some of that looks like: Las Tangaras! Blue-winged Mountain tanager. Golden Naped Tanager. Flame faced tanager. Beryl Spangled Tanager. Golden Tanager. Male White lined Tanager Female White lined Tanager. Blue Necked Tanager. Rufous Necked Tanager. These Swallow Tanagers. Coming next, Hummingbirds!